I lay down and forced myself through the book on alchemy. Through it, I discovered how alchemy worked. The alchemy of this world had nothing to do with chemistry. It was actually far, far more complicated.

The book gave me overviews of many branches of Alchemy. They specifically stated that everything in the book was the most simplified version of the truth. But basically, an alchemist would gather a bunch of herbs to create a paste or pill. Afterward, they would throw them into a fire and pray everything worked properly. If everything worked properly, only the impurities in the medicine would burn, leaving a more pure form of the medicine. If it works, the pill or paste would qualify to be called a First Cycle Pill, which meant it had gone through one cycle of refinement. Repeating the burning process would make it a Second Cycle Pill, etc.

I know it sounds silly. How burning medicine ever became a legitimate method of refinement, I don’t think I’ll ever know.

But it worked, and that’s what mattered. Certain types of refinement could even bring out hidden traits in the medicine. Each successive refinement was more difficult to carry out. Only master alchemists could make fifth cycle medicine.

I finished the book and set it down. I pushed myself into the bed. “Haaaaah” I sighed, it was so comfortable I fell asleep in less than two minutes.

The next day, I went to get Chen Wei. When in doubt, push your problems onto somebody else. I walked to the front gate of her residence. An armored soldier stood by the gate. I waved at him, “Is Sect Head Xing in right now?”

“Do you have a referral?” he asked. Only somebody from this world could move in the amount of armor he was wearing.

“She told me I could come if I ever needed to. I don’t have an official referral, but I do have this.” I held up the guest talisman.

His eyes widened. “I’ll notify her of your presence.” He disappeared behind the gate.

I nodded and waited silently.

A long moment later, Chen Wei and the soldier appeared at the gate. She bowed, “Welcome, Grandmaster Jin. What have you come here for?” The guard stared at his sect head in shock before hastily bowing as well.

I frowned. “My name’s just Vi- I mean Jin. I’ve got something I think is pretty important. Can you come with me?” I asked.

“Yes, Grandmaster,” she replied.

“It’s just Jin.” I turned around and let her follow behind me.

A couple minutes later, we walked into my new garden. The pineapple rose out of the ground to appear before us.

Chen Wei took two steps back. “Wha- what is this?”

“It’s a pineapple, but that doesn’t matter.” The mouth of the pineapple opened, revealing Hui Ming. She was crouched in a corner, with red eyes that looked like they didn’t get enough sleep. She was short and relatively thin, but her black clothing clung on her tightly, tightly enough for me to see the six abdominal muscles that poked from her stomach. She didn’t look like much when I saw her yesterday, when I only had a bit of moonlight. In the light of day, it became obvious she had trained her body to peak performance.

She didn’t try to escape. A hint of fear appeared in her eyes when she saw Chen Wei, but she hid it quickly.

“This is?” Chen Wei asked.

“I found her snooping in my yard last night. She says she’s spying on the sect. You can take her if you want,” I said.

“Grandmaster captured her. You can keep her if you wish,” she said.

“Chen Wei,” I looked into her eyes, “Please. Stop calling me grandmaster.”

She tightened her shoulders. “But-”

“Stop doing it,” I stated, more fiercely than I should have.

“Then what would you like to be called?” she asked.

“No Grandmaster Jin, no Senior Jin, no Master Jin. None of that. Just call me Jin,” I said.

“But-”

“Look. I’m younger than you. Why call me grandmaster? I don’t deserve it, it makes me uncomfortable, and it makes no sense, not in order of importance. Stop with that incessant bowing too.” I took a deep breath. “I’m not sure why you’re doing all this, but I can guess. I can control plants, so what? You don’t need to shovel respect onto me. Just talk normally.”

“Normally?”

“Normally,” I said. “Like you were when we first met.”

“Sorry Jin, but I might be able to make the transition that quickly.” she looked at the ground.

I smiled and clasped her shoulder. “You’re getting there.” She smiled back.

A rustle came from the pineapple in front of us. I’d forgotten about her. I coughed, “Anyway, she was spying on your sect, don’t you want her for some, I don’t know, interrogation?”

If I’m honest, I just wanted her off my hands.

“Not really. Can I step into this... pineapple?” she asked.

“Go ahead. Uh, you might want to watch out though. I think she’s pretty strong,” I replied.

“Thank you- I mean, thanks,” she said. She jumped into the pineapple and approached Hui Ming.

“Careful…” I warned.

She took three steps forward. She was about to take the fourth when in one fluid motion, Hui Ming grabbed the dagger at her waist and stabbed at Chen Wei’s throat. I could hardly even see it.

Chen Wei blocked the dagger with her bare hand and staggered backward. From the amount of blood streaming down her arm, the dagger must have cut at least a centimeter into her palm. Her blue sleeve turned dark red.

“What did I tell you?” The Twentytacle Trap still left in the pineapple came to life, its twenty vines stretching to grab Hui Ming.

Hui Ming lunged at her neck again. Chen Wei pulled a sword out from underneath her robes and blocked it. Hui Ming tried to make a dash out of the Prison Pineapple, but I willed it shut. I stayed outside and focused on controlling the Twentytacle Trap still inside.

The Identify skill was, for lack of better word, overpowered. It was nothing like the identify skills from those light novels and LitRPGs I had read in my old world. In exchange for only being able to identify plants, it gave me a ridiculous amount of information. So much information that I could feel everything the plant could feel. If I had learned to read braille, I would be able to read it with my vines. Combined with the Control skill, my plants became extra limbs.

I connected with the Twentytacle Trap. I felt around with the tentacles and quickly found Hui Ming. Before she could attack again, I latched onto her body and locked her down again. In the tight confines of the prison, she was no match for my traps.

I dropped two seeds to the ground. I reached down and pulled out a modified Meaty and Skinny Ginseng.

After gaining the Identify skill, I found the ginsengs actually strengthened my body on top of healing it. I modified both of them so that they only healed.

“Where,” she said through gritted teeth. “In hell,” she clutched her palm, ”did they find a fourth stage expert to spy for them!”

She finally started talking “casually” with me, and it was only through a haze of pain!

I willed the pineapple open again. I rushed in to find Chen Wei crouching on the floor of the pineapple, gritting her teeth and wrapping her wounded hand in torn pieces of her robe. “Here, eat this quick!” I fed her pieces of the two ginsengs. I stared at her bloody palm. “Didn’t I warn you?”

She stopped grimacing not long after. I assumed the pain from her cut had went away. “Huh? What did you feed me?!” she yelled. She immediately sobered up, “Sorry grandma- Jin. I didn’t mean to yell at you.”

I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. Grandma Jin?

“One of my plants,” I dismissed. I pointed at the tied up Hui Ming. “She’s in the fourth stage of Dao Formation? Is that good?”

Both girls looked personally offended at my question. I genuinely didn’t know!

“Of course it is!” said Chen Wei, “I’m at the fifth stage and I’m the leader of a sect.”

“That’s no good,” I said, half to myself. How was I going to get rid of her now? Back to the original plan, I guess. “She’s all yours. Just make sure not to let her go,” I leaned in to whisper, “and don’t let her tell anybody I can control plants, either.”

“How can I do that?” she whispered back. “I don’t have a way to guarantee she won’t tell any guards.”

I couldn't suggest any cruel methods, I was too much of a goody-two shoes for that. “You can, like, wrap her mouth in something,” I whispered.

“She’s too powerful. She can easily break through any cloth,” she said.

I rubbed my hand against my forehead and stopped whispering “Oh come on, there needs to be some way to do this.” Chen Wei didn’t say anything and continued staring at me. “Oh no. Don’t tell me...”

“I think you’re going to have to keep her.”

“Shit.”